ABOUT GFGM

gastronomy

ɡaˈstrɒnəmi/

noun

the practice or art of choosing, cooking, and eating good food.

Good Food, Good Mood was established after I realised how often I was asking myself the difficult question of "Where and what should we eat today?". The Melbourne food scene truly makes us spoilt for choice, so I am hoping my honest reviews can act as a guide for any occasion - from cheap eats to fine dining, to burgers and pizza on cheat days, to fresh and healthy on cutting days. Recommendations on places to try and review are always welcome, just leave a comment.

All photos are taken with my Samsung Note 4 or Sony NEX-F3 unless stated otherwise. Thanks for dropping by!

- Lisa Pizza xo

P.S. Shoutout to my friends and family who dine with me - thanks for not picking up your cutlery when the food comes out so I can take all my food photos... y'all know my camera eats first haha.

NSHRY

On the rare occasion that Melbourne blesses us with gorgeous, sunny weather, I grasp the opportunity and bask in the sun while I can. What better way to do that then at NSHRY? Pronounced 'NOSHERRY', this beachfront restaurant was listed 3rd in the Burger Adventure's Top 10 Burgers of 2012.

For the first time in nine weeks, I didn't have work at 8am on a Wednesday which allowed me to visit NSHRY without stress. It's located 10 minutes from the CBD and there is parking across the road which isn't a strenuous walk. I found parking for four hours on Beaconsfield Parade (and it had no meter, score)!

I ordered a chai latte instead of a cold drip coffee because it was sooooo windy despite the sun. Eventually the sun hid behind the clouds again (but fortunately came back out when the food arrived, making the photos look super good).

The view of the pier from the outdoor seating area. I didn't even have to zoom in a lot because we were THAT close to the beach. It took a while for our order to be processed as the waitresses were not proactive enough. Don't get me wrong, she was very friendly but not aware of her customer surroundings. I've read on several Urbanspoon reviews that this is the case with the service anyway, so I wasn't expecting glamour hospitality. The mains are available after midday (12pm) and breakfast is served until 3pm which is pretty awesome.

Soft Shell Crab Burger with pineapple chili $22

In my honest opinion, $22 is extremely dear for a burger. You can buy two of them at Huxtaburger or other popular burger joints. The size of it was TINY and you can tell by the colour of the chips that the oil was old... gross. I was going to order the Umami burger (which is what NSHRY is renown for) but decided against it because soft shell crab > everything. The soft shell crab was a bit too salty and left me thirsty for hours. The pineapple chilli really complimented the crab and wasn't spicy at all.

What I did like about the meal was that there was three dipping sauces - aioli, tomato and sweet chilli. I like eating my hot chips with dipping sauce, my favourite being onion chutney at Mocha Jo's.

Pork Belly Burger $22

Unfortunately this was not crackling pork belly but regardless, Jny was given a huge piece of juicy pork!!! We asked for our burgers to be cut in half so that we could have the best of both crab and pork worlds - smart thinking. The pork itself was nicely cooked and soft as soon as you took a bite. I am going to comment again on HOW SMALL THE SIZE IS. I might be a girl but I have a pretty big appetite so when it came out, I was so disappointed considering the "traditional" size of burgers that other places offer. Size matters haha just kidding.

The weather was so beautiful so I didn't really mind that it was a 30-40 minute wait for our burgers..... I am a very impatient person when it comes to waiting for food and I wouldn't really say that the wait was worth it, but you should definitely try it out as the weather gets warmer. Not many places serve decent brunch meals on the beach front. Did I forget to mention that they also have PHO??????????? Pho is vietnamese beef noodle soup and can be found in Vietnamese restaurants for $8-$10 a bowl. NSHRY sells it for $19 which I am a bit skeptical about but will definitely try one day. I'm assuming they are trying to target the western crowd so I was not sold.

Coffee syphon! I took it from the outside because I didn't see it until I walked out.

Technically this is the front of the restaurant (as this side is facing the road) but the entrance is near the sand. They have no bathroom so be prepared to use the public toilet if you're like me and anal about where you do your nature calls. I would recommend NSHRY when Melbourne gets a little bit hotter as the wind really ruined my experience and I didn't want to sit inside when it was such a nice Spring day.